Court interdict to halt Jugomaro park ‘liquidation’ fails

“The property has been paid off. Why didn’t they take our cars? Why did they have to take the animals? The animals were not part of the settlement,” Fernandes told The Citizen.

This after a court interdict by the park’s owners at the high court, in a bid to keep the animals on their property, failed on Wednesday.

“A group of people saying they were from the liquidators came to the park with papers, stating that the cats were being sold,” Fernandes said in a video.

He added the liquidators had already loaded five tigers into the van, saying they would proceed to take more.

“They are game capturers, and one of them said they got permission from the liquidators. They shot at one. They refused to let us see the one that was shot,” he said in the video before bursting into tears.

Fernandes’ lawyer, Elias Tsole, said the owners were not aware the animals were bought and how the animals were bought. However, he added, they were now attending to the matter.

Following a plea for help after one tiger was allegedly shot dead after it attacked a security guard at the park in Witbank, Mpumalanga, yesterday, people came in large numbers to help stop the trucks carrying tigers from leaving the park.

Fernandes said the tigers were back at the park, still caged on the trucks. On his Facebook page, he asked for assistance from wildlife vets to help move the animals to their enclosure.

“I would like to know if there are any good wildlife vets available for today to help me get my cats back into their enclosures today, please. There are 12 big cats that need to be moved ASAP. Please, can anyone come help?”said Fernandes.

Co-owner head Rosa Fernandes said: “The tigers are not moving at all and are very quiet, which is worrying. We are waiting for the vet to release them and treat them.”

“These cats have been locked up in the crates for close to 24 hours. They seem to be in pain,” she said.

Witbank News reported one of the tigers, Everest, was shot dead when it jumped over a fence and bit a guard in the leg. Fernandes said on Thursday: “Everest didn’t die. The cats were darted and sedated, and they were spooked by the number of people surrounding them. Everest jumped out and bit a guard. Warning shots were fired, and we assumed he was killed, as he was lying motionless on the ground.”

The park was famous for raising Panjo, a tiger who made headlines in 2010 when he escaped from a bakkie while being transported to a vet. He was found two days later in a bush in Mpumalanga.

Asked if Panjo was one of the captured tigers, Fernandes said Panjo was still in his enclosure.

– Caxton News Service